TEHRAN -- Acclaimed Iranian short movie The Recess has claimed a new award at the 2022 “World FICTS Challenge” — World Cinema and Sports Television Championship — in Milan, Italy.  

Written and directed by Navid Nikkhah-Azad, the film grabbed the FICTS’ jury award for best film in Sport and Society competition section of the 6th Beausoleil Côte d’Azur International FICTS Festival in France.

Following the honor, The Recess has been introduced to the final stage of the World FICTS Challenge.  

Translated into El Recreo in the Spanish language, the 12-minute film is co-produced by Nikkhah-Azad and Delia Guerra Para.  

The flick is about a 17-year-old school-girl who runs away from school to watch the football match of her beloved club.  

Sahar, along with three of her friends, plans to exit the school during the break in order to watch the match between Esteghlal FC and Al Ain FC at Azadi Sports Complex.

Mozhan Kordi, Reyhaneh Naieean, Niloufar Shokouhinia, and Ghazal Khalili are on the cast list.

The Recess has competed in 92 international film festivals and has grabbed 17 awards, some of which include the best short fiction film award from the 5th IPSMF (Int’l Photography and Short Movie Festival) in Indonesia, the best short film award at the 23rd C.M.U. Santa María de Europa in Spain, the best short film awards at the 2021 Int’l Film Festival for Human Rights in Colombia, the 18th Progeny Short Film Festival, the 24th Johns Hopkins Film Festival, the 12th IndieFEST Film Awards as well as the 15th San Francisco Frozen Film Festival, all held in the U.S.